


The Professor and the Fan Girl

by KathleenMacMillan



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, F/M, Love, Professor!Thorin, thorin oakenshield - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-04
Updated: 2014-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-11 16:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2075577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KathleenMacMillan/pseuds/KathleenMacMillan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something familiar about Kate's new Medieval History professor. A longtime lover of Tolkien, she quickly discovers what it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nerd, Geek, Fan Girl

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for ImagineXhobbit.tumblr.com under my URL, a-lass-with-an-ax, as Thorin X Reader, but changed it to Thorin X OC (Kate) for AO3.  
> Song I listened to while writing: "This Love." To listen, copy & paste this Youtube URL in your browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URvC-7lcrvI&index=4&list=PLTFf-dlXzxmRc7GuSvm_ERnECZ-Tg_Jg6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate finds something very familiar about her Medieval History professor. A longtime Tolkien fan, it doesn't take her long to realize what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this as a Thorin X Reader drabble for imaginexhobbit on tumblr under my URL a-lass-with-an-ax. Here, I've changed the reader to an OC, Kate.

The classroom was filling quickly with eager college freshmen, and the accumulating body heat, not to mention the body odor, was making things very uncomfortable. Kate sat in the back, wiping the steam from her glasses once again. She gave up on getting in one more chapter of “The Hobbit,” a book she’d read at least ten times since childhood, before the Medieval history class began.

Kate reviewed her schedule again. This class was to be taught by someone named “E. King.” Funny, she didn’t remember meeting a person by that name during orientation.

Suddenly, all became quiet as the professor entered the room.

Long, dark, slightly wavy locks with a few silver-gray strands graced his shoulders and fell against his back. A neat beard and mustache clung to his gruff face. Icy blue eyes looked out over the many faces.

Kate let out a loud, long gasp. He was even the right height, not a tall actor scaled down using camera tricks and computer magic.

Dressed quite simply in black jeans, a white button-down long-sleeve shirt and brown leather boots, he avoided the podium and stood at the desk, pulling some papers from his worn briefcase.

“Thorin?” Kate called out.

The professor looked up and wrinkled his brow.

“Who said that?” he asked in a British accent.

“Me!” Kate raised her right arm enthusiastically and waved it for a few seconds. “Thorin Oakenshield, it’s you! I can’t believe it!”

“Pipe down, miss.”

“Thorin Oakenshield is teaching this class! Oh my God! Am I even here right now?!”

There was a moment of absolute silence before the class erupted in laughter that grew louder with each second. Kate heard the words “geek,” “nerd” and “calm your fan girl ass down,” hurled at her.

“Quiet!” the instructor thundered. “Settle down, all of you, or you will spend the rest of the semester turning in ten-page essays to me each week. Is that what you want?”

The class muttered a collective “no, sir.”

“Professor King” began reading the long list of students’ names out loud, each person he called answering "here." Kate became more and more nervous as he got closer to her name. Kramer, Philip, Lowe, Aaron....

"MacMillan, Kathleen."

"Here," Kate squeaked.

"MacMillan!" He called again, looking around.

She spoke up louder this time, but remained low in her seat. "Here!" 

He glared at her for a few seconds, then continued calling the roll.

When he was finished, he grabbed the papers from the desk and began passing them out. It was the syllabus.

For the next hour, Kate sat slumped down in her seat, shading her face with her hand on her forehead, embarrassed beyond belief, and listening to Mr. King read the detailed, intensive, intimidating plan for the semester. Though there was nothing about weekly ten-page essays, there were monthly research projects (group and individual), a class assignment at the end of the semester that involved making a model of a medieval city, and bi-weekly oral presentations, not to mention two hours worth of studying a night.

At last the class was over. Kate wished there was a door in the opposite direction but she had no choice but to pass him. She tried to file out quickly but there were too many people. She would be the last to leave.

As she got closer to him and the door, it hit her like a ton of bricks that OF COURSE THERE WAS NO FREAKIN’ WAY IN THE WORLD that this could be Thorin Oakenshield! Number one, he was a fictional character, and number two – well, that was it. Kate was just a die hard Tolkien fan, partial to the line of Durin, always wishing things could have ended differently for her beloved Thorin. Her imagination and heart had always been in Middle Earth, and today was no exception.

“Mr. King,” Kate said sheepishly, sneaking one last peek at him, “I’m sorry for my outburst. Obviously I’m a little ‘out there.’ Always have been.”

He stepped forward with his arms crossed, and leaned in close. “Miss MacMillan, you have never been so wrong in all your life.”


	2. Keep Your Chill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor E. King -- Thorin, visiting our world -- tells Kate what little he can about why he's here, and she tells him where she's always held him.

Seeing how weak Kate got in the knees in the classroom, Thorin/Professor E. King offered to buy her a cup of coffee at the campus coffee shop downstairs.

He found a table in the corner, away from other patrons and employees, and at first handed her two gold coins. Remembering they were no good here, he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a five. 

Kate ordered a latte and brought him bottled water, then sat across from him for several minutes holding onto a grande mocha with two shaky hands. Her eyes were glued to him, and from time to time he gave her a slight smile. Mostly, though, he just looked around cautiously.

“How did you get here? When did you get here? Where did you get money? Where are you staying?” she finally asked, as she neared the halfway point of her beverage. “You died in the book. And you’re not even ---” She stopped.

“Real,” he finished for her.

She nodded slowly, then tacked on more questions. “Why are you teaching? Why this university? Why Medieval history?”

“My lady,” he sighed, “I'm sorry, I cannot explain any of this.”

“Please, call me Kate," she said. "And, is it that you can’t explain it, or you won’t?”

Thorin looked at her apologetically. 

“I will not explain it, for your own safety, Kate.”

She opened her mouth to gasp loudly, but were stopped by his glare.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

He leaned in closer, his eyes sweeping the entrance before turning to her. “I may not be the only one here.”

That bit of information was more than Kate could handle in a quiet voice. “WHAT?!”

Thorin looked mortified. Two students gazed up briefly from their tablets, but everyone else kept minding their business. Apparently shouting in a college coffee shop didn’t raise many eyebrows.

“Please, you must keep your chill,” Thorin said.

Kate couldn’t help but smile at his mix-up. “I think you mean ‘keep your cool’ or ‘chill,’ “ she corrected him. “And I will, I’m sorry.”

He huffed. “I shall never understand these strange phrases,” he muttered. “Yes, I believe there are others, none of them friends. So to be on the safe side, I would steer clear of the entire chemistry department if I were you.”

Kate's eyes bulged but she 'kept your chill.' “Why?”

“Just trust me.”

Kate took another sip of the latte, wondering why his enemies would choose to infiltrate a university chemistry department, and making a mental note to stop by the registrar’s office ASAP to drop Basic Chemistry from her schedule.

“Now I have some questions for you,” Thorin said, running a thick finger along the ridges of the unopened water bottle. “Someone in the class called you a ‘fan girl.’ What is that?”

“It’s like an admirer.”

“Of a person?” He raised his eyebrows.

She did her best to explain what a ‘fan girl’ was, not sure if he understood, though he genuinely seemed to.

“Interesting,” he said when she was done, “but I see one problem."

"What's that?" 

"You are a lovely woman, not a girl.”

Kate grinned at him, feeling her cheeks get hot. She dropped her head a little.

“Have I embarrassed you?” he asked.

Kate didn’t know whether to smile or keep a poker face, whether to say yes or no. How does one answer 'Professor' Thorin?

“Oh, I’m fine. Go on,” she said, looking up and giving him her best nonchalant look.

“One last question,” he said, locking his eyes on hers. “How did you know?"

Oh, boy. Kate struggled for the words. Would he understand her intuition, admiration, love, longing? Would he see how desperately she’d wanted to fight alongside him at the Battle of the Five Armies the very first time she read the book as a child? How she cried when she read that he died, dressed in black, and lay flowers on an imaginary grave in her back yard?

Kate couldn't put all that on him. Not now.

“Well,” she began, trying not to get too deep, “when I saw your hair and beard, it crossed my mind that you were an excellent cosplayer.”

He looked bewildered. “A what?”

“A cospl— oh, never mind,” she said, waving her hand to dismiss her little joke. Kate's face turned serious. “I…I just know it’s you, Thorin.”

He folded his arms, sat back in his seat and tilted his head as he looked at her for a long time. “So the possibility, no matter how outrageous, has long been in your heart?” he asked at last.

Kate shook her head, briefly debating if she should continue. Looking in his eyes, she knew she had to say it.

“You've been in my heart.”


	3. Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor!Thorin, a.k.a Professor E. King, needs a place to stay.

There was an unspoken heaviness between the Professor and Kate as they climbed the stairs to her apartment. 

After her confession at the coffee shop, there had been a long silence as Thorin looked at her, almost with pity, then away, toward the door, and back to her. After a while, she could no longer stand the quiet, and broke it by asking him if he had a place to stay. When he answered no, she invited him to her place. 

As she removed the keys from her pocket of her faded jeans, she was suddenly very grateful for the university's huge administrative error that resulted in her scrambling to find last-minute off-campus housing. She hadn’t had time to find a roommate yet. 

The apartment would be empty.

It would just be her and Thorin.

The keys shook in her hand and she kept missing the key hole. Thorin stood behind her, his breath on her right shoulder, and reached up to steady her hand. 

“What makes you tremble so?” He asked, his words blowing warmth through her thin, pale pink cotton top. He helped her push the key into the slot.

“You. Me,” she said, wanting to turn around to face him, but fearful of what she might do out in the hallway..

Kate turned the key and opened the door, letting out the smell of “new apartment” ---Clorox and Febreze. 

In they went. Thorin shut the door behind her. Kate led him into the small living room and gestured for him to take a seat on the leather chair, her favorite reading chair from back home. He sank into the soft material and propped his briefcase against the wall. 

Kate sat across from him on the denim couch, a hand-me-down from a neighbor. 

“You seem uncomfortable.” Thorin broke the silence.

Kate shook her head and looked down at her nervous, entwined fingers. “I don’t know what I am right now.”

“Because you shared what's in your heart?”

Kate nodded and swallowed before answering. “Silly, huh? I told you I was ‘out there.’”

He wrinkled his brow and cocked his head. “Kate, I appreciate your honesty. It seems to be a rare thing, no matter what world you’re in.”

“Then you’ll really appreciate this,” she said, her voice shaking but her determination immovable. There was no sense in holding back; he wasn’t going to be in this universe for long and she had to let him know the whole truth. “Thorin, I love you.”

Thorin gave her a close-mouthed smile, and looked at her sweetly. “You are very kind, my lady." "I'm not trying to be kind." "You only think you love me, based on what Mr. Tolkien wrote," he sighed. "But I do wish I had the time to get to know you better. ”

“Well," Kate breathed normally for the first time in what seemed like days, "since you don't have the time, I’ll tell you everything about me right now. I love the author of the books that you come from. I have loved Middle Earth since I read the first page of ‘The Hobbit.’ I love medieval history. And I love you.”

His smile grew wider. “What else, lass?”

Kate searched her life for something interesting to say. "This is my second time at the university. I came here for a half a year, then traveled abroad for a year and half, and when I came back I worked at a pet store for a few years and took care of my father. After he passed away, I decided to go back to school. Now I'm a full time student again."

His eyes were deep in hers. He seemed to enjoy listening to her talk about herself. "Go on," he said.

Kate thought for a second. “I like to run for exercise.”

He chuckled, and his thoughts drifted to a time long ago. “We did a lot of running during our quest," he said. "You would have fit in nicely.”

“Yes, I would have.” Kate was dead serious. She felt the need to be closer to him, so she rose from the couch and sat in from of him on the floor, and took his hands in hers. Leaning down, she kissed each rough knuckle on each hand, feeling herself get lightheaded from all the day’s revelations, and the fact that she was kneeling before her king, who was no longer fictional. 

He gently pulled a hand from her grasp and smoothed her hair back. “I am afraid I am not worthy of your love. And I am your professor, after all.”

“Stay with me,” Kate said. "I have a bed."

“I am your professor. I should not have even come here.”

“But you need a place to stay,” she reasoned. 

Thorin sighed. “Yes, I do. But I have already revealed too much about my presence here.”

“You’ve barely told me anything. And I will keep what little you told me a secret. I promise.”

He caressed his free hand against her cheek. “So beautiful…” He whispered. “And so young.”

“I’m older than you think,” she blurted. “I'm 24. This isn't my first time being a college freshman.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. Twenty-four was a baby.

“I am your professor,” he repeated, removing his hand from his face, then pulling back the hand she'd held carefully in hers, and resting both in his lap. “I will find somewhere to rest my head.”

Kate could hardly stand his resolve. She rose to her feet, placed her hands on her hips, and blew out a huff. “Fine. At least stay on the couch.” She gestured to the long seat behind her.

Thorin also stood, looked at the deep blue couch, and nodded. “That will do very nicely. Thank you.”

Kate grunted, turned on her heel and headed for the kitchenette, where she searched through her unorganized cabinets for a box of Earl Grey. “Would you like some tea?” she called. "You didn't touch your water."

There was no answer. She peeked her head out. No sign of him. She figured he found the bathroom. 

Kate turned on a stove eye, ran water into the kettle, and placed it on the red-hot coils. After several minutes, she called for him again. 

Still no answer. 

Kate walked cautiously into the living room, continuing to call softly for him. She peered into the bedroom, a surge of desire rising in her chest. If she saw him sprawled on her bed, she would go insane. 

But he wasn’t there. Kate began to feel panic grip her. She pushed open the bathroom door: empty.

"Professor?" Kate tried to keep her voice low. "Thorin?"

Frantically,she looked around the small apartment, in unreasonable places like under the desk. He was gone, his briefcase was gone. Kate ran to the entryway and flung open the door, her heart racing, her breath quickening.

He was gone.

Kate didn’t understand. Where could he have gone so quickly? 

Just then, the teapot whistled, calling her back inside, to reality.


	4. Out You Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have quickly and oddly changed between Kate and Thorin. As she struggles to understand what's happening, a tall blond stranger introduces himself.

Kate tore through the apartment complex parking lot in her silver Honda Civic, made a screeching right turn onto the main thoroughfare, and nearly ran into the back of a truck as she twisted her neck this way and that, looking for her professor.

Her heart wasn’t just racing, it had blasted off like a rocket. She didn’t feel thumping in her chest, she felt an inferno. 

Where was he?

She whipped into the first available spot at the student center, haphazardly parking the car on such an angle that she was inches from touching the cars on either side of her. She dashed from her car, past the student center, straight for the World History Building, where all the medieval classes were taught. 

A rush of students flowed from one set of doors; another cluster was going in. Kate tried wriggling her way between the bodies of the in crowd, but she got stuck in a circle of beefy jocks, their shoulders blocking her as if they were playing on the football field. But the momentum of the crowd rolled her into the building like a wave, which was the goal. 

Once inside, the crowd dispersed to different rooms. Kate ran for Room A102, stopping in the doorway as she caught her breath.

Professor King stood before a new class of wide-eyed students, sharing a fresh set of syllabi. As she looked at him standing there so calm and collected, Kate felt relieved, confused and furious, all at once. How had he gotten there so fast? Why had he left without saying goodbye? Why....

“May I help you?” Thorin’s deep voice startled her from her list of questions.

Her breath steady, Kate tried to come up with a good answer. She failed.

“N-no. I don’t think so,” she stuttered.

“Well then, would you mind removing yourself from my doorway?”

There were light chuckles from the students. Thorin whipped around and glared at the class. Instant silence.

He turned back around to Kate and gestured for her to leave. “Out you go,” he said, as she backed away, hurt and bewilderment on her face. Her mouth hung open as he reached for the doorknob and pulled it shut, looking at her with expressionless eyes through the upper glass portion, then turning back to his class.

Kate stood there a moment, feeling as if she’d been kicked in the gut. Did that really just happen? Did he just act like he hadn’t spent the last two hours with her? 

Activity in the hallway was starting to pick back up. Kate was suddenly aware of people around her. 

“Yeah, that’s her.” Two women walked by, huddled together, snickering at Kate as they headed down the hall. One of them whispered to the other, “That’s the nerd who thought Professor King was Thor.” They giggled as they disappeared from sight.

“Thorin,” Kate corrected them, but not loud enough for them to hear. She’d promised him she’d 'keep her chill' and she meant it, even if he was acting like a jerk. 

*****

It killed her, but Kate was determined not to show back up at the classroom. Not until her own class on Thursday, and that was two days away. She returned to her apartment, flopped on her bed, and stared at the ceiling, wondering what to make of Thorin’s sudden coldness. 

Calm down Kate, she told herself. He couldn’t act too friendly in front of all those people. You know that.

Still…there was something strange about how he’d left her apartment, how he looked at her in his classroom doorway. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something had changed between professing her love, offering her couch and making him tea. 

Kate stayed up until 3 a.m., hoping Thorin would knock on the door, come in, explain what the hell was going on, and crash on her couch. But he never showed up. 

Kate fell asleep in her clothes, her face to the ceiling, tears sliding down her temples and pooling onto the bed. 

Nerd, she thought, as she drifted off. Stupid fan girl.

*****

If it weren’t for the money she’d already plunked down, and borrowed, to return to university, Kate would have stayed in bed the next day, or even the next week. But the practical side of her took over, even in the horrible state she was in.

It didn’t help that she had dreamed of Thorin. It was the same dream throughout the night, as if on repeat. They were back at Starbucks, talking, getting to know each other. The final time she dreamed it, he leaned over and softly kissed her. And that’s when she woke up. 

The skin around Kate’s eyes was caked in dried salty tears. She looked at herself in the mirror in her bathroom, hardly recognizing the red-eyed person staring back at her. Her limp, dark brown curls drooped at her shoulders; her pink top was wrinkled and misshapen. She peeled out of her clothes and turned on the shower, preparing for her 10 o’clock basic chemistry class.

Oh, shoot, she remembered as stepped into the water. She’d forgotten to drop the class. The registrar’s office would be her first stop. 

After her shower, Kate dried off and put on a white sundress dotted with yellow daisies, and white sandals. It was her favorite summertime outfit, and she knew her opportunities to wear it would soon be few and far between as cooler weather settled in. 

Kate grabbed a banana from her fruit bowl and ripped away, tossing it in the trash as she chomped the flesh without really tasting it on her way to her car. The drive to the university was quick and uneventful. Parking was a breeze, the walk to the registrar’s office was boring. She glanced at the World History Building, desperately wanting to run in and find her king. But she thought better of it. For whatever reason, he was choosing to distance himself from her. 

“Pretty dress.” The comment came from a tall blond-haired guy standing in front of her in the line inside the registrar’s office.

Kate managed a weak smile. “Thanks.” She looked at her feet.

“Looks like you didn’t get enough sleep.”

That little quip snapped Kate back from her zombie-like state. She looked at Blondie. “Excuse me?”

He smiled. “Sorry. That was not a negative comment about your appearance. I just recognize the tired look. I did not sleep very well last night either.” 

Kate rolled her eyes, right in his face. 

“I’m not making a very good impression, am I?” he asked, still smiling.

“No, you’re not.”

The line started to move. After Blondie took a few steps, he turned back around and extended his hand. 

“Nice to meet you. I’m Thra…Randy.”

“Thra-Randy?” What a dumb name, Kate thought. 

“Just Randy. “

“Oh.” Kate shook his hand and studied his face, taking in how exquisitely beautiful he was. “I’m Kate.”

The line moved up some more. “Are you adding a class?” Randy/Blondie asked.

You explained what you were doing, but not why. 

“Don’t drop chemistry. I’m helping to teach a class.”

“Sorry, ‘Thra-Randy.’ Gotta drop it.” Kate felt oddly sassy around this guy. It was nice to feel something besides confusion and sadness, though those emotions were still quite prevalent. 

He laughed. “What are you doing tonight, Kate?”

Here we go, she thought. “I need to get some reading done for a medieval history class.” That was definitely true. 

“Medieval history!” Randy exclaimed. “Sounds very boring. The professor’s probably boring, too.”

Boy, he was an arrogant cuss. “Don’t knock it,” Kate said. 

There was now only one person in front of him. Randy pulled out a small notebook and a pen from his gray pants pocket. Kate gave him a quick once-over. Gray slacks, light gray long-sleeve dress shirt. He should have been hot, but he looked incredibly cool. He fumbled with the pen and looked at it up and down, as if confused about how it worked. 

Finally he pushed the top in, and the tip emerged from the bottom. He looked at it with an “a-ha!” kind of expression, then scribbled down a number and handed it to Kate.

Kate looked at the paper curiously. She thought he was giving her a phone number.

“What is this?” she asked.

“There's going to be a reception later tonight for some of the new faculty," he said, pointing to the number he'd written down. "That's the conference room at the student center where it's going to be held. You should come by, as my guest."

“Oh.” 

Randy approached the counter, discussed something quietly with the registrar staff member, then turned back around and began walking away. 

“I look forward to seeing you, Kate,” he said, looking at her up and down.

“Yeah, uh, listen,” Kate started. “Thanks, but I’m not sure if I can come to this thing. So don’t hold your breath.” There was that sass again.

“That’s O.K.,” Randy said, smiling ever-so-slightly at her, “I can wait.”


	5. One More Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate decides to try and put Professor Thorin's rudeness behind her and spend some time with the gorgeous but slick Randy. But the good professor is never too far away.

After removing basic chemistry from her schedule, Kate swung by the campus bookstore to pick up a few books she hadn't been able to find online. The trip left her out $250. She'd be eating ramen noodles and microwaveable meals for a while. 

She had a 12 p.m. British literature class, which she was looking forward to, hoping it would take her mind off Thorin. It didn't. She fantasized about him reading “Tom Jones” to her. She felt tears sting her eyes halfway through the class. 

On the way to her car, she heard more snide comments about her outburst the previous day, this time from a couple of guys checking her out. 

"Crazy fan girl cleans up nice,” one said, followed by making kissing noises. The guy with him called to her, “Hey, I'll be Thorin for you. I'll be whoever you want me to be.”

Kate was tempted to say something but thought better of it, remembering the last dude she'd engaged with, the gorgeous but slick Randy. At least he seemed semi-intelligent. Who knew WHAT these two losers had between their ears.

Back at her apartment, Kate put in her ear buds and put her iPod on shuffle while she read her required chapters in her medieval history book, napped, ate a Thai Noodle and Chicken Lean Cuisine, then read through the introduction of the British lit book. Information was going in, but not sticking. If she were to have a pop quiz on anything she’d just read, she would fail.

She dozed off when “Nights in White Satin” came on. That song had the power to lull her to sleep sometimes and energize her other times. It was great to listen to during a run. 

When she woke up three hours later, Kate felt dazed. She didn’t like the feeling. How many men had she fallen into this foggy state over? Jeff, Kevin, Ben, Rick --- too many. And now here she was again, hazy and sad over a fictional-turned-real Dwarf king, the love of her imaginary and actual life. 

Enough. 

Because this was Thorin Oakenshield she was trying to get over, she knew she had to work her way through the fog faster than she ever had. She could feel herself getting more and more lost.

She glanced at her clock: 6 p.m. Randy hadn’t said what time the reception started, but 6 seemed like as good a time as any to welcome new faculty. The thought crossed her mind that Thorin might be there, even though it didn't seem like his thing, and the possibility excited her. She wanted to see him, even if he didn't acknowledge her. 

Kate got off the bed, hurried to the bathroom and checked her look in the mirror. Not bad. The tousled curls look was rather sexy. But the glasses…

She went back to the bedroom and fished around in a box for her contact lenses. She didn’t wear them a lot, but she always got a new prescription every year, just to switch up her look every now and again. Tonight was a good time for a change. 

She winced at the sting in her eyes as she put the discs over her pupils. Within a minute or two, the discomfort subsided. She wiped her tears, applied just a hint of makeup to perk up her sullen expression, grabbed her purse and keys, and headed for her car.

 

******

Randy was the first person Kate saw when she entered the reception, which looked like it was just getting started. Several faculty members chatted with each other and a few students, drank bottled beverages and nibbled on crudité. Kate made a quick sweep of the room: no Thorin. She felt her hope plunge.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Randy said, sauntering over to her with a drink in his hand. He was out of his gray garb from earlier, and looking more relaxed in khaki pants and a white polo shirt. His golden hair, which must have been braided and off to the side when she spoke with him at the registrar’s office, hung long, down to his waist. She had no idea he had such long luxurious locks.

“This old thing?” she said, twirling the lower half of her sundress from side to side. “I’m afraid you’ve already seen me in this.”

Randy leaned down to Kate’s ear and whispered, “I’d like to see you out of it, too.”

Kate didn’t have a comeback. She was dumbfounded. This guy’s smugness had reached a new level.

He caught the look in her eye immediately. “I’m sorry. I went too far.”

“Yes you did. “

“You’re beautiful, Kate. I didn’t mean to come on so strong.”

Kate seriously considered getting out of there. This fool clearly believed he was too sexy for his shirt. But the thought of roaming the campus and possibly running into more snickering, or worse, going back to her empty apartment, depressed her. 

“I’ll give you one more chance,” Kate said, starting to walk toward the long beverage and hors d'oeuvres table.

“Good,” Randy said, actually sounding relieved. “I’d like that.”

As he handed her one of the small bottled waters from an ice-filled bowl and began to put some hors d'oeuvres on a small blue plate for her, Kate realized there was no difference between Randy’s advances and what she’d said to Thorin. 

In fact, hers was worse, since she admitted to being head over heels in love with him after he'd known her for - what - two seconds? THEN, to top off that wonderful confession, she offered to share her bed with him. Thorin was probably keeping his distance because, like Randy, SHE'D GONE TOO FAR.

Idiot, Kate thought to herself.

Randy handed her the plate and started pointing out all the new faculty members and what they taught. He spoke with authority in a velvety voice that would have made other women swoon. While Kate found him very attractive, he wasn’t her type. She was a Dwarf-loving girl, and he was more of an Elf. 

When Randy made jokes about some of the faculty’s sad hairdos and stupid-looking neckties, Kate laughed for what seemed like the first time in ages. She had to admit, she was genuinely having a good time, even though a part of her – a very large part -- wished it was Thorin by her side. It had only been a day, but she missed him with a deep, longing ache. 

Just then, Kate felt a searing heat on her face. She looked up, thinking one of the HVAC vents had gone haywire, kicking out hot air instead of cool. But the heat wasn’t coming from above.

Something told her to turn to her left, and she obeyed, slowly.

Across the room, his arms folded across his chest, his long hair draped over his broad shoulders, chin down, jaw clenched, and brow furrowed, was Professor E. King, burning a hole through her with his eyes.


	6. The Last Word

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate finally gets some answers from Thorin about his recent behavior, and resolves to get over him the best way she can when a visitor unexpectedly appears.

Her face getting hotter by the second, Kate eased away from Randy, who had struck up a deep conversation with another student about the Periodic Table of the Elements. Neither seemed to notice her taking baby steps toward the front door. 

Professor King – Thorin – was still glaring at her. He stood frozen in his cross-armed position, looking incredibly sexy in blue jeans and a dark blue, long sleeve button-down shirt. But he also appeared very, very angry.

Kate thought she would be overjoyed to see him, but something about the way he was mowing her down was unnerving. She’d had so many fantasies about running into his arms when she saw him again, of him apologizing for being so standoffish and for not staying with her. But all those frilly dreams went out the window as she felt his eyes tracking her. 

Kate took a quick look in his direction as she neared the door. Just like that, he wasn’t there! Again, he’d slipped out of her sight before she could notice. Well, there was no way he could have made it past her to the outside. She blew out a sigh, opened the door and walked out. For a half a second she felt compelled to tell Randy that she was leaving, but then she remembered, she didn’t owe him any explanation. 

The waning summer heat felt good after being in the cool air-conditioned reception room. Kate began walking toward the parking lot.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Kate didn’t understand why she wasn’t startled, but she wasn’t. Thorin was leaning against a utility pole, his arms still crossed, still looking quite ticked.

“Home,” she answered, standing squarely in front of him. She was determined to give off an air of confidence if it was the last thing she ever did. 

“What about your friend in there?” Thorin practically spit the word ‘friend.’ She knew he was talking about Randy, and she could have sworn she detected a hint of jealousy.

“Randy isn’t my friend,” she said.

A laugh that began in the depths of his soul spilled forth, and his eyes widened. “Is that what he’s calling himself in this world?”

Kate cocked her head. “Who are you talking about?” Almost as soon as she asked the question, the answer popped in her head: Thranduil. Or, "Thra-Randy", as he’d slipped up earlier. It all made sense! The elegance, the arrogance, the other-worldly beauty....

“Oh, my God!” she gasped, raising her hand to her mouth.

“You honestly did not know?” Thorin asked. 

Kate shook her head, her hand still covering her mouth. This was all too much! And she still had no answers. 

“Then I suppose he was not in your heart the way I was.”

Kate removed her hand and met Thorin’s eyes, hard. How dare he shove her words back in her face like that!

“Good night, Professor.” She began to strut away, a million questions running in her head about Thranduil. But she knew he wasn't going to tell her anything, so she resigned herself to just go back home and sleep off this craziness. 

Thorin walked close behind her. “I thought I told you stay away from the chemistry department.”

“That’s funny. I thought you told me to remove myself from your doorway.”

Thorin stopped and reached for Kate’s arm. She turned around, feeling a lump form in her throat from his touch on her skin.

“I owe you an apology, Kate. I should not have….”

“No, Professor, stop.” Kate swallowed back her pride. “I said some pretty inappropriate things yesterday. I‘m the one who should apologize. So…I’m sorry.”

“Kate, please listen to me. I left your home because I realized I can’t give you what you want. I behaved indifferently so that you would perhaps forget about me. I am not here for love. Neither is he - ” Thorin nodded his head toward the reception room “ - no matter how much he seems to fancy you.”

Kate was dying to know their purpose in this world, but she knew Thorin wouldn’t tell her. In that moment, she also accepted the fact that he would never love her, either. 

“Thanks for the heads up,” she said, trying to sound casual. She resumed her walk to the parking lot, and Thorin walked alongside her this time.

“I cannot thank you enough for believing in me,” he said sincerely.

“No problem.”

Thorin detected something different in her voice. She was not the bright-eyed, enthusiastic, welcoming young woman he’d first met. She had closed herself off, and it was all his fault.

He did not know how to bring back the "fan girl" he’d quickly come to care for. All he could think to say next was, “Where are your spectacles?”

Kate smiled as she reached in her purse and pulled out her car keys. “At home,” she answered. "I’ve got something on my eyes that works just as well." They had reached the Civic and she leaned against it on the driver’s side, facing him. 

Thorin gave her a peculiar look, then shook his head. “I probably would not want to know how that works,” he said, smiling warmly.

“Probably not.” She opened the car door but waited for a moment, sensing that he had something else he wanted to say.

He swallowed, digging through his brain for ways to keep the conversation going, for he was not ready to let her go. “Your frock is lovely,” he said, as his eyes traced the outline of her form for what must have been the hundredth time that night. 

She glanced down at the pretty yellow flowers she was covered in, briefly forgetting that she was wearing her favorite seasonal outfit. “Oh. Thank you.” She had a question for him, too: "Did you find a place to stay?" 

He nodded. "Yes. A hotel around the corner," he said.

"That's good." The conversation was getting increasingly more awkward.

Something overcame him, and he reached out and lightly touched her hair. “Kate...” 

“Yes?” She heard her voice quiver.

“It would not make sense for me to get involved with you. I am nearly ten times your age. My time here is only temporary. Do you understand?”

“Of course I do,” Kate said in a pseudo-upbeat voice. 

“You do?” He sounded surprised, and not a little skeptical.

“Listen, I’ve thought about this,” she said, “and I’ve decided I’m going to drop the Medieval History class. I’ll take it up whenever you've...gone. And this way, you don’t have to worry about me looking at you all googly-eyed, and I….” She blew out a long, sad breath. “And I can get over you.”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “You will find someone who it makes sense to be with. Someone from your world, someone your age, who can love you the way you deserve.”

That was it. Kate couldn’t take it anymore. Not his touch, not his words, not his presence. She moved his hand from her shoulder, got in the car and shut the door. Thorin leaned down and looked at her through the closed window, presumably to say one thing more, but she needed to have the last word.

She rolled down the window.

“Thorin, whatever you came here for, I truly hope you find it.” He was still very close to the window, so she leaned out and kissed his cheek. The expression on his face was half surprise, half sadness. "Thank you for letting me get to know you, if only for a little while."

She made herself give him a hint of a smile, her way of letting him know that she would be O.K. And she would, eventually. 

Thorin took a few steps back as she put the car in drive and rolled away, too distraught to look back.

*****

Kate sobbed during the car ride, walking up the stairs to her apartment, and to her bed. She pushed off the books and papers and flopped down, angry at herself for acting like a lovesick teenager.

She told herself she’d have one good huge cry and then be done with this whole business. She would convince herself that it was all a dream. She’d lied to herself before, so she knew how to do it. 

As a child, how many times had she told herself and others that her mother was an astronaut, or an explorer of the world's most dangerous jungles, when in fact no one -- not even her father -- knew where she’d run off to when Kate was just three years old? All she knew of her mother was her name, Ava, and the yearning, far-off look on her beautiful face, captured in a portrait studio photo. The picture sat in a silver frame on Kate's nightstand, and from time to time she would look into her mother's eyes, wondering if she was contemplating leaving her child at that very moment the image was taken. 

Yes, fantasy was better than reality, and it would be so in this case, too. It would be a story she’d tell her friends: “I dreamed that Thorin Oakenshield was real and was my medieval history professor. And Thranduil hit on me." The end. 

Kate chuckled bitterly to herself. THE END. Yes, this would soon be over, especially after she dropped that class. She went to the bathroom, splashed cold water on her face and blotted her skin dry with a towel. She peeled her shoulder straps down her arms and was about to shimmy out of the dress when there was a knock on the door, making her jump.

Kate gently flipped her straps up but it wasn't enough for them to land back on her shoulders. She walked gingerly through her living room and toward the entryway, shooing away the hope building in her heart. It’s not him, she told herself. It’s not him, it’s not him…

Kate looked through the keyhole, and in one swift move opened the door.

“To hell with making sense,” Thorin said, grabbing Kate by the waist and pulling her to him, his mouth hungrily meeting hers. 


	7. The Woman in the Frame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the worst possible moment, Kate learns that Thorin knows more about her family than she does.

Kate had made love to Thorin so many times in her mind, there was a hint of familiarity in that doorway as he consumed her mouth. Over the years, she had felt his lips everywhere on her, cried out from them in the night, waking herself. Now, as her dream lover was actually before her, fervently pelting her skin with hard, wet kisses, she threw her head back and willingly drowned in the moment, knowing that if she died right then and there, she would go at her happiest. 

For Thorin, Kate was a completely new quest. The desire he felt for her, that had been growing since she first called his name in the classroom, almost frightened him. The taste of her lips was more appealing than any wine, the feel of her neck was as smooth as the finest silk. He trailed desperate kisses down to her collarbone, his hands around her back as he stepped out of the doorway. 

He kicked the door closed behind him and peeled himself away, fixing his eyes on hers. “We will say farewell to one another soon enough,” he said, his breath husky and his lips only an inch from hers, “but it will not be tonight.”

Kate leaned in and kissed him tenderly, entangling her fingers in his hair. But the kiss didn’t stay gentle for long, as Thorin eagerly parted her lips with his tongue and searched her mouth. Kate moaned and returned the deep, passionate kiss, releasing his hair and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Kate stepped back and took his hands in hers, leading him into the bedroom. She stood by the side of the bed and hiked up her dress in her hands, and he knelt before her, gently grasping the thin band of her panties with both hands, sliding them down her taut thighs, to her ankles. She stepped out of them, and he began sweetly kissing the inside of her thighs as his hands wandered the backs of her legs, tickling her and arousing her at the same time. 

He was making his way to her outer right thigh when he abruptly stopped. 

His body went completely rigid, and even from where she stood, not able to see his face, there was a noticeable change to his mood.

Thorin swiped the photo of Ava from her nightstand so quickly and angrily that he smashed the glass inside the frame. He stood, his jaw tight as he looked at her mother. Kate released her dress, not knowing what to make of what was happening.

“Thorin?” she asked quietly, trying to read the expression on his face.

“Who is this woman to you?” he asked, his eyes still on the photograph.

Kate opened her mouth to answer, but it wasn’t fast enough for him.

“”How do you know her?!” he shouted, turning to her.

“She’s Ava. She’s my mother.” Kate blurted. She sank to the bed.

“She’s a thief,” he growled, turning back to the image that gazed longingly behind broken glass.

“WHAT?” Kate felt as if she’d been smacked with a pillowcase filled with bricks. 

And then she felt sick as her own sets of questions flooded her mind.

“Oh my God, how do YOU know her?” she asked.

This time it was Thorin who didn’t respond in a timely manner. Kate snatched the photo from his hand. A shard of glass sliced her thumb.

“Enough with the secrecy,” Kate demanded. “Tell me why you’re here, and what you know about Ava. Right now.”


	8. Some Things Are Meant to Be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin explains how both their lives have been touched by the same person.

Kate sat on the bed, legs extended, her back resting on the pillows propped against her headboard. Thorin sat close on the edge of the bed, tending to her cut thumb from the first-aid kit he found in her bathroom.

As he began to speak, Kate braced herself to hear the words “portal,” “dimension,” “space-time continuum” and “black hole.” 

She was only sure of one thing: if he had “known” Ava in the biblical sense -- God forbid -- he wouldn’t still be looking at her the way he did, because that would just be gross. 

“Remember in the coffee shop when I asked you if the unlikely possibility of me being real had been in your heart?” 

Kate nodded slowly, wincing a little as Thorin cleaned her wound with an alcohol wipe.

“Well, there are some things that are meant to be, whether they start in a book or in one’s imagination. Some people are meant to come alive, to travel to far-off places, to fulfill a purpose.“ 

He finished cleaning the cut and looked through the kit for the right bandage, preferring to wrap her thumb rather than use the sticky-backed bandages. Finding a roll of white gauze, he unraveled it to the appropriate length, and tore it from the rest of the roll.

“There are some ideas, and people,” he continued, “that can’t stay confined to a page – or a heart.“ He covered the wound and tucked the tip of gauze over the top, securing it.

“Are you saying I’m the one who brought you here, because I’ve loved you for so long?”

The way Kate’s lips parted when she said that, the way the straps of her dress hung off her shoulders, it took everything in Thorin not to forget this conversation and continue where they’d left off. 

“Thorin?” Kate said, noticing his wistful expression.

He snapped back into focus again. “I’m here because I have a purpose that started with one man’s imagination, but it didn’t end on the written page, and it didn’t end with his vision for my fate. It was beyond even the person who first crafted me in his mind.”

"So, this isn't your first time in this world? 

He shook his head. "There have been many wrongs against my people, many who have escaped and need to answer for their crimes."

"Once you've left a place," she asked nervously, "do you ever return?"

He didn't answer. One look in his blue eyes told her the answer was no. Her heart split a little more in two. 

Kate rested her head back and looked at the ceiling, taking in everything he said. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand what he meant, because oddly enough, she did. She had always been, after all 'out there,' having a sense that there was more to life than what she saw, that fiction was simply a wish away from reality. 

But her thoughts drifted to her father, wondering why he could not escape his fate. She contemplated why there are those who are chosen to go on, and those who are not. 

As if reading her mind, Thorin said, “There are many more destinies that are final, Kate, and no one understands why. My father, my grandfather, my brother, my nephews ---“ His voice drifted off, and grief covered his face. Kate knew his pain was centered on Kili and Fili.

He tried to distract himself by concentrating on securing her bandage, but Kate placed her other hand atop his, trying to comfort him. Tears welled in his eyes but did not fall. He leaned down and kissed her delicate knuckles, as she’d done to him, feeling his sadness lift. 

He eased back up, facing her. Their eyes were chained to each other.

“And now I will tell you about Ava,“ he said. 

Hearing him say her mother’s name, Kate took in a deep, deep breath. Whatever he was going to say next would surely knock her for a loop, but she would keep her chill. 

“She came to Arda many years ago…”

“But it’s only been about twenty years since she left me -- I mean, here,” Kate interrupted. 

He shrugged. “Time is not always a perfect match across worlds,” he said. 

Must be a space-time continuum thing, Kate thought to herself. 

“What was she like?” she asked quietly.

“She was like you: beautiful, spirited, and full of faith and wonder. She had traveled all over Middle Earth before coming to us, spending a great deal of time in the Shire. She often talked about leaving something very dear behind in her old life. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I now believe she was speaking of you.”

Kate felt a mix of anger and sorrow, but remained silent.

“She, too, had a strong affinity for the places she’d read about. But I do not know how she got there.“

Thorin saw the crestfallen look in Kate’s face. If there was a way to Middle Earth, Kate wanted to know about it. “I wish I could tell you,” he said.

Kate gave a weak smile and nodded for him to continue.

“I did not know her as well as my sister and brother did, but they loved her. She was very clever, very bright, and she told stories about the books she’d read. She would often sing this one particular song, though I do not recall the words.” He closed his eyes and began to hum in his deep bass, and Kate recognized it immediately. Her father used to sing the tune to her at bedtime when she was a child: “I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.”

Thorin didn’t catch the shock in Kate’s eyes. He stopped at the end of one verse, opened his eyes, and looked at her sheepishly.

“What is it?” she asked. 

“She was betrothed..."

Oh, God, here it comes! 

“...to my brother." 

Kate let out a huge breath. She most definitely wasn’t expecting to hear that.

"To Frerin?" she said, and he nodded. "So, uh, the two of you...didn’t…you know…”

Thorin picked up on what Kate meant immediately, frowned and shuddered slightly. “Oh, no!” he said. "Ava is lovely, but she has a frivolous nature I always found rather...immature. I mean no disrespect." 

"None taken," Kate said honestly. "Go on." 

“After everything we went through," he continued, "including Smaug’s attack, it was Frerin’s death at the Battle of Azanulbizar that changed her the most. She was burdened by grief, revenge, and, something else, something I could never pinpoint. She was so anxious to leave. I think she finally realized the preciousness and frailty of life, and she didn't want to miss sharing it with that 'something dear' she had left behind."

Kate shifted uncomfortably. It was strange hearing him talk about Ava. Of the two of them, Kate should have known more about her. But it was as if she were listening to him describe a stranger. 

“She left us in the Blue Mountains, and ended up in Mirkwood, of all places. I can only guess that she was looking for a way back to you. I learned much later that your new acquaintance, ‘Randy,’ accepted her there under the condition that she help him collect a few things for him.”

“Collect,” Kate repeated dubiously.

“Yes. And 'collect' she did. Thranduil protected her, of course. She was never caught. But she pilfered throughout Middle Earth - from Men, from Elves, from us, even from trolls - things of great monetary value. But the most recent item she took from me was invaluable, and it belongs with our family.”

“What did she take?”

“A weapon - Frerin's sword. My purpose is to retrieve it. Apparently, she came here with it. Her first stop must have been the university, which is why I ended up there -- and uh, 'Randy,' also. But at some point, she slipped away. If she had traveled back to Arda, we would also be gone. So she's still here." 

It was funny: Kate could actually accept that her mother had left her to travel to Middle Earth, but found it hard to believe that she could be somewhere right in this city. Kate began to feel nauseous. 

“Are you all right?” Thorin asked.

“I will be. It's just hard to hear the details about someone who was supposed to be taking care of me," Kate said. She felt self-pity coming on, and tried to recover quickly. “What is Thranduil’s purpose here, then? A sword belonging to the line of Durin doesn’t even seem like something he would ask her to take.”

“He’s here to protect her as usual, I imagine. She is his best ‘collector.’ And maybe more to him than that.” 

Oh, yuck, Kate thought. 

“And I think she took the sword on her own," he said. "I will say this: she loved Frerin very much, and she left us with a lot of darkness in her heart, and only memories.”

He used a word that made her squirm. Kate cleared her throat. "Speaking of darkness," she began, "are you still consumed by the gold sickness, Thorin?" 

He grazed his fingers over hers as he spoke. "I may still be vulnerable to it," he said, "but of late, something else has consumed me." 

Thorin kissed the palm of her hand, and began tracing kisses up her wrist, and higher...

Kate's heartbeat picked up speed. "How can I help you, Thorin?" she breathed. 

He stopped kissing her right in the middle of her forearm, and looked up. "Just stay as perfect as you are, and always remember that you are loved, long after I’ve – “

Kate reached for his face with both hands and brought him to her, cutting him off with a kiss. She knew what he was going to say, but she didn’t want to hear it at that moment. 

She kept him close, thinking of how much she loved him, and how she could never, ever be perfect. 

But there was definitely one thing she could do before he left her forever: help him find Ava. 


	9. Mother Goose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate secretly takes off to search for the Collector, leaving Thorin to realize how much he's come to care for her.

Kate fell asleep in Thorin’s arms. As much as he wanted to make love to her, and as much as she told him she wanted him to, he didn’t feel the time was right. There was so much she had to process in such a short period of time, he wasn’t sure she was thinking with complete clarity. 

She didn’t protest. They only thing she asked was that he not leave, and he was more than happy to comply. He lay beside her with his arms wrapped around her, and she scooted down so her face was against his neck, breathing him in. She occasionally nuzzled and kissed him there as she dreamed, which nearly drove him mad. 

As the rising sun cast a peach glow from the east-facing window in Kate’s room, Thorin found himself alone. His eyes still closed, he first patted around for Kate’s warm curves, but his hand only hit a sheet of paper. He forced his eyes open, leaned forward and saw that it was a note.

Dear Professor King,

Unfortunately, I will miss your class today, but I will catch up on my assignments later.

P.S. You snore. Loudly.  
P.P.S. You smell divine.

Thorin rolled on his back again, smiling. But it faded almost as quickly as it came, as he began to wonder where she went. 

*********

Before dawn, Kate awoke, kissed Thorin’s cheek, and slunk from his grasp. She hated to leave him, but she was determined to be of some help.

She showered and changed into tan capris and a sleeveless white eyelet shirt, then went in the living room and searched through the only box of photos her father had, looking for any clues that might lead to Ava’s whereabouts.

Up until she was about ten, she used to go through the photos every Mother’s Day, not really paying attention to any details, just Ava’s face. As she entered puberty, she grew tired of feeling bad whenever the holiday rolled around, so she stopped looking at them altogether.

Now she sat on her couch, her laptop beside her, and beheld the photos gingerly, as if they were evidence in a crime.

Very quickly, Kate deduced two of her mother’s favorite places: a carousel at the park on the edge of town, and a bookstore where, apparently, Ava used to work. In each photo someone – Kate’s father Steven, presumably – had captured her riding a grand elephant on the merry-go-round; reading “The Hobbit,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,”; or assisting customers. Kate squinted and looked closely at some of the store signage in the background: Worlds of Wonder Bookstore. She grabbed her laptop and looked it up. No longer in business, but she would still swing by the address after visiting the carousel.

Kate scribbled note and left it by Thorin’s side, taking a moment to gaze at him as he slept peacefully in her bed. That he had talked her down from insisting that he sex her up made her love him all the more.

But don’t stay too comfortable in those clothes, Thorin Oakenshield, Kate thought, blowing him a kiss as she left.

********

As soon as Kate drove up to the carousel, she could see how it once held appeal, though weeds now grew tall around it and the brilliant colors caught in the photographs were now washed out, peeling ghosts of their former selves. 

The carousel had a Mother Goose theme to it, with a grand mural in its center of a countryside populated by Little Bo Peep, Wee Willie Winkie, and others. Each animal had a Mother Goose rhyme inscribed on its side, written in curly-cued lettering. 

Kate walked around the large circle until she recognized Ava’s favorite animal, the huge elephant. Its paint cracked and peeling, it still had a regal flair to it, but didn’t seem particularly significant to her search, until Kate read the rhyme on its hind leg: 

There was an old woman  
Lived under a hill;  
And if she's not gone,  
She lives there still.

Kate immediately thought of Bilbo Baggins: “I come from under the….”

Wait. 

Kate’s mind went nuts, wondering if this was truly a dead end after all.

******

Thorin couldn’t concentrate. 

Throughout his class, he gave out wrong dates for upcoming projects, asked ‘what’s your question?” to students who didn’t have questions, and kept walking to the back of the room, gazing out the window, looking for his fan girl. He felt his body ache for her in a way he’d never yearned for anyone.

And all he heard was, “but Professor King, according to the syllabus…” 

When the hour was finally up, the class filed out quickly, each one looking back at him, bewildered.

“I knew medieval history was boring. I didn’t think it would be perplexing as well,” Thranduil said, leaning in the doorway after everyone left, a smug look on his face. “What did you say to those kids?”

Thorin barely glanced at him as he shoved papers in his briefcase. “What are you doing here?”

Thranduil stepped in,hands in the pockets of his black trousers, looking over the rows of empty desks. “That’s my question to you. This place bores me, Thorin. And if you and I aren’t at each other’s throats, what’s the point of being in such close proximity? Why is either of us here?”

“You know the answer to that.”

Thranduil shook his head. “I have not seen Ava. “

“Well, that makes three of us.”

Thranduil cocked his head. “Three? Who else?”

“The lass with you at the reception…”

A smile crept across Thranduil’s face as he rocked back and forth on his heels, recalling her body in the sexy sundress. 

“Oh yes, Kate…”

“…is Ava’s daughter.”

Thranduil stopped fantasizing. 

He hung his mouth open for a moment, uncharacteristically dumbfounded. 

“How did you learn that?” Thranduil asked cautiously.

“Because she knows, Thranduil. The minute I walked in this door, she knew who I was. Don’t worry, she’s not going to reveal us. Not that anyone would believe her, anyway.”

There was complete silence between them as Thranduil pondered how Kate might affect him getting his Collector back.

Thorin continued. “Ava left her when she was a small child, and they haven’t seen each other since that time. So if you know where she is…”

“I do not. I wish I did,” Thranduil sighed dreamily. “She’s the only one who knows exactly what I like and how I like it.”

“So, she’s still your paramour?”

“Is Kate yours?”

Thorin froze momentarily, then resumed packing his papers as Thranduil continued.

“Yes, I saw you glowering at her at the reception. I assume you spent some time with her afterwards?”

Thorin remained silent. 

Thranduil chuckled. “I cannot believe this. You are falling for her!”

“Leave.” Thorin began impatiently fastening the buckles on his brief case.

Thranduil peered at Thorin’s face. “No, you’ve already fallen. Quite deeply, it would seem.”

“I said, leave!”

Thranduil turned around and headed for the door.

“Sooner or later, Thorin, my Ava will resurface, and this business here will be over, and onto the next. You may retrieve your brother’s sword, or you may not. But the fact remains that you will still have to say goodbye to Kate. I suggest, for your sake and hers, you make that happen quickly.”


	10. She Lives There Still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate follows a trail of bread crumbs...

There was an old woman  
Lived under a hill….

Kate drove around in circles, putting the rhyme on repeat in her head.

And if she's not gone,  
She lives there still.

But WHERE WAS THAT?

Before she left the carousel, Kate looked up on her phone all places in town with the name “Under Hill” and any variation thereof: Underhill Parkway, Underhill & Sons Auto Repair, Under Hill Townhomes. But her research revealed one problem: every one of those places had been constructed within the last five to ten years, long after Ava had left.

Kate’s thoughts turned to Thorin. She needed to check in with him soon. He would be worried. She didn’t think to ask if he had a cell phone, but even if he did, she doubted he would have known what to do with it. She smiled, conjuring up images of him fumbling with modern technology.

As she made her last loop around the city, Kate decided to end her morning by stopping by the address of the former bookstore, already programmed in her GPS.

As soon as she rolled up on the cobblestone building, Kate felt at home. Although long shuttered, it had that same air of romance and magic to it that the carousel did. After parking right in front, she got out of the Civic and looked through a filmy window.

Save for a few empty, broken-down bookshelves, the place was an abandoned, dusty wreck. But there was some evidence of its former glory. Written high on each wall, in the same playful lettering as the Mother Goose rhymes at the carousel, were famous authors: C.S. Lewis, E.B. White, and L. Frank Baum, and J.R.R.Tolkien.

Beside Lewis’ name were the words: “Will You Enter?” next to a whimsical painting of a wooden wardrobe. Time and harsh sunlight had faded the artwork, but it was nonetheless lovely.

Alongside White’s name was “Spin a Web with Charlotte.” Someone had drawn a friendly-looking black spider dangling from an intricate, large web with the words “Some Pig” in it.

On Baum's wall, “Follow It” was written above a painting of a winding yellow path that snaked all around the bottom of the wall.

But the Tolkien wall only had the words “This way to the Hobbit-Hole” painted on it next to the author’s name, with an arrow pointing upward.

That was it.

All the other walls had fabulous depictions of important icons from the books' worlds, but Tolkien’s had only an arrow. And pointing to what?

Kate was on the brink of feeling dejected again when all at once, the elephant, the nursery rhyme, the Tolkien wall, and the arrow all pulsed through her mind like a strobe light. Bringing all those separate items together, she felt as if she were being led someplace; following a trail of breadcrumbs.

For the nano-second she thought that idea was silly, she remembered she’d just spent the night sleeping in the arms of Thorin Oakenshield. Tracking hints from her mother was definitely within the realm of possibility.

*****

Kate stepped away from the bookstore and looked around the quiet neighborhood. She saw no housing whatsoever. An old jewelry store was a block away – not on a hill. A pawnshop flashed its neon “open” sign about an eighth of a mile to the east. Not on a hill.

Kate had one last idea. If this didn’t lead somewhere concrete, she planned to leave. 

Calling up the compass app on her phone, she aimed it in the same direction where the Tolkien wall was situated in the bookstore. South.

Three blocks away was a two-story establishment, also in a stone building. Kate began to walk toward it to get a better look.

As she got closer, the bottles in the first floor window and on the logo gave away that it was a wine shop. A sign above it read: "Pays de Colline Verte Wine & Spirits." The upper level was “Colline Verte Café” with a winding wrought-iron staircase leading up to it.

From her travels, Kate knew enough French to translate the name, but the pit in her stomach made her whip out her phone and double-check her knowledge on Google Translate.

Pays de colline verte was “green hill country” in English, as she already knew.

Green Hill Country was in The Shire. Kate could see the map clearly in her mind.

Ava had spent time there, Thorin had said.

These were indeed clues.

Kate walked around to the side of the building, and saw a set of wrought-iron stairs leading downward. Her heart knocked hard against her chest as she moved closer to see where the steps led.

There wasn’t a round door, but there was a door, with a brass knocker.

Kate descended the stairs with trepidation. Feeling weak, she hung onto the railing to the last step to steady herself.

Soon she stood before the black door, sweat beading on her forehead and flowing under her arms. She would have turned away and run up the stairs if the conversation with Thorin hadn’t run through her mind just then. He had a purpose. She had to return that weapon to him.

Kate hit the knocker three times against the door. She closed her eyes as she heard footsteps, and then unlocking, on the other side. The door swept open.

Kate opened her eyes to see the same beautiful, stately woman from her bedside photograph standing before her.


	11. A Good Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kate finds what Thorin has come here for -- and so much more.

Ava’s small apartment was filled with old books – stacked on the floor, on shelves, on end tables, everywhere – as well as cozy seating and lots of bottles of wine. The books must have come from Worlds of Wonder after it closed, Kate figured, and the booze, of course, from upstairs.

Ava stepped aside to let Kate in, and offered her a comfortable armchair in the tiny living room. She sat across from her in a wooden Windsor kitchen chair, next to a small glass occasional table, topped with a wine glass and bottle of Reserva Malbec.

“Do you know who I am?” Kate tried to keep her voice hard.

“Kathleen,” Ava said, looking her over. “How you’ve grown, child.”

Hearing her mother say her name, Kate struggled to keep her composure.

“Do you know why I’m here?” she asked.

“You think you’re going to collect something from me.”

Kate clenched her jaw. Something about Ava was overly confident, and yet extremely sad. 

Then, without warning, Ava began talking nonstop about living in Middle Earth, as if Kate had known all this time where she’d been, and as if her being there were the most plausible thing in the world. 

She spoke of the skies being so blue sometimes that it felt like an ocean was above her; how the people of The Shire were so welcoming and warm. And she went on and on about the Dwarves’ passion and the Elves’ gracefulness. 

Ava also knew that Kate had met Thorin. “The university was my first stop when I returned, and I walked by the coffee shop that day,” she said matter of factly. “I could tell he was explaining things. Your eyes were so wide.”

"And how did you know who I was then?"

"I was finally able to find a way back to you, so this is where I ended up: where you were. That's how it works. I asked a few questions, and found you. It wasn't hard." Ava sighed, looking longingly at Kate, just as she did in the bedside photograph. "You've grown into such a lovely young woman, Kathleen. How you would have loved Erebor..." 

Kate sat there, staring at her. These last few moments, by far, were more surreal than anything else she’d experienced over the last few days.

Ava had not aged from the photos. Her shoulder-length hazelnut hair was twisted in soft curls; her deep brown eyes were pensive. Those were the only two physical traits they had in common; other than that, they looked nothing alike. Ava was a bit taller, thinner and elegant in her movements, even in her hand gestures, as she babbled on. 

Ava stopped her Erebor chatter to ask if Kate would like a glass of wine. Kate glanced at her phone. It was eleven thirty in the morning.

“It’s a bit early for me,” Kate said.

“Thranduil says it’s never too early.” Ava poured a half-glass of the Reserva Malbec into her glass, which already had a teaspoon of the dark wine in it.

Kate didn’t understand why Ava was so relaxed and casual, like they were old pals who were catching up. She was growing more and more impatient.

Suddenly, Kate blurted, “Why did you leave me?” 

Anyone else would have also asked ‘how’ but Kate was less interested in portals and dimensions and more interested in basic answers.

Ava didn’t flinch. 

“You should know, I was a good mother to you,” she began. “I sang to you, I read to you, even when you were a tiny baby. I read you ‘The Lord of the Rings ‘when you were six months old, and I swear you seemed to understand it.”

“Why did you leave me?” Kate repeated. 

Ava sighed and took a long drink of her wine. “I fell in love with a place that didn’t include you, or your father. “

“Not a good answer.”

“It’s the truth, Kathleen. And I can see the same love in your eyes, too. That’s how you found me. You knew what to look for. And I knew you would.”

“Please don’t pretend to know anything about me. It’s too late to play Mommy.”

“I did think of you, all the time.”

“Sure, between doin’ Frerin and stealing for Thranduil, I’m sure I consumed your every thought.”

Ava was silent for the first time since she opened the door. 

“Thorin told you about Frerin and me?” she finally said.

“Yeah. I think for my sake, he tried to make you sound like a fairly decent person before you lost your mind.”

“I was so grief-stricken, Kathleen. I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“Oh, spare me! I was grief stricken when my father passed away, but I didn’t turn into a criminal.” Kate could tell from Ava’s stunned expression that she had just broken some big news to her.

“Steven died?” Ava whispered, lifting her hand to her heart. “When?”

“What does it matter? You weren’t there for him, or for me!” Kate bolted from her seat. “Look, let’s end this little reunion right now. Just give me Frerin’s sword so I can get out of here.”

“I can’t let you do that, Kathleen. It’s the only thing I have left of him. He would have wanted me to have it, I’m sure of that.”

“It belongs with his family! I know you have no regard for that institution, but Thorin does. SO GIVE ME THE SWORD!” Kate had never yelled so loud in her life. She wouldn’t have been surprised if the wine shop and café patrons had heard her.

Ava took a sip of wine, dropped her head for a few moments, then slowly glanced behind her. Kate followed her eyes. An oblong object lay low against the wall, tightly wrapped in a thick, light gray fabric. Kate rushed past her and grabbed the bundle, stumbling a bit from its heft before regaining her footing. 

She lumbered to the door with the heavy sword in both hands, too angry to think about how she would look walking down the street with it.

“You’re in love with him,” Ava said. It wasn’t a question.

Kate didn’t answer. 

Ava continued to sip wine, lifting her legs up and folding them on her chair. “I’m going to get that back, Kathleen. And I’m going to get you back, too. I'm going to prove to you that I can be your mother again. A good mother again.”

Kate’s back was to Ava. She steadied the sword in her left arm, pulled the door open with her right, and stepped halfway through.

“I have a better idea,” Kate said, tears filling her eyes, turning to Ava one last time. “Why don’t you just go on another adventure?”

Kate held Ava’s gaze for a half a second, then exited, slamming the door behind her.


	12. Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin and Kate experience the great passion and pain of falling in love with each other.

Thorin was ready to unleash hell when he saw Kate again.

It was two thirty. He had been back and forth to her apartment building, between his morning and afternoon classes, to no avail. 

Thorin cut his second class short to look for her around campus. He got her class schedule from the registrar and went to her other instructors, asking if they’d seen her. They hadn’t.

As difficult as it was to wait for her return, Thorin knew nothing would compare to leaving her for good. And that was coming quickly. Like Thranduil said, they would soon be off. Time was running out.

Thorin was walking to her apartment building – again – when he saw her disappear up the stairwell. He didn’t want to shout, lest he draw attention. He quickened his step, but she was still too far ahead for him to catch up with her right away.

He saw Kate place something large inside her entryway as he reached the top stair, his chest heaving. He was relieved to see her, angry at her for being gone so long, desperate to taste her lips again. She was a vision.

“Where have you been?” his deep voice boomed. He caught his breath quickly, and stomped up to her. 

Kate’s bloodshot eyes were large and full of need as he got closer, sweeping her in his strong arms. He could feel pain within her, and knew it must have had something to do with Ava. Thorin was overcome with desire to take her hurt away, to take care of and please her in every way possible, for as long as he could.

He peppered her with fast, hot, breathless kisses on her mouth and her neck, his hands careening down every curve. Kate moaned and whimpered in response, losing her hands in his voluminous hair. 

They stopped long enough to get through the entryway, and, just as before, Thorin kicked the the door shut to the world outside. 

********************************

Thorin and Kate spent the rest of the afternoon loving and sleeping, whispering their heart’s desires, gazing at each other in wonder, making each other promise never to forget any of this. Ever. 

During a quiet moment, Kate lay on her back, arranging in her mind all the questions she still had for him.

“What does it feel like, when you’re --“ Kate thought of the movie “Jumper” and one of her father's old TV shows, “Quantum Leap,” as she searched for the right word, “-- when you’re ‘traveling’?”

Thorin turned on his side and propped his hand against his head, and Kate turned to him. “Hmm…what is it like. Well, in the beginning, it is quite painful, as if my whole body contorts, then breaks itself into little pieces to fit into a space that’s not big enough for me." He caught the look of horror on her face and added, "But as I get closer to my destination, it subsides.”

He rolled onto his back again and motioned for her to move closer. Kate tucked in next to him and rested a hand on his hairy chest.

“How did you get hired at the university so quickly?” she asked, trying to erase the horrible body-breaking-into-bits image from her mind.

“Those details, I do not know,” he said, his bass rumbling into her body. “It’s as if we just pick up on a life we left. Everything except for a home is ready for us. That may be the hardest part.”

Ava’s story, of course, was different. At some point while still in this world, probably right after she's left Kate and her father, she’d purchased the little Green Hill Country apartment. She must have kept a key hidden somewhere for all these years.

“Did you learn anything of Ava while you were gone?” Thorin asked, out of the blue. 

For a split second, Kate thought of lying, telling him she hadn’t found her and didn’t have the sword. But the idea lived and died within a minute. She couldn’t lie to him. Maybe Frerin’s sword wasn’t as valuable as the Arkenstone, but it still meant the world to him.

Kate told Thorin the whole story, from the clues in the photos to the carousel elephant to the terrible way she and Ava parted. Kate had driven back to the city park and just sat on a bench for a couple of hours, her anger and guilt eating away at her. 

Thorin ran his fingers along the arm Kate wrapped across his chest. 

“I wish things had turned out differently for you and Ava,” he said.

“Me, too.” Kate sniffed back a tear. “But she’s definitely taught me how NOT to be a mother.”

Thorin suddenly fell dead silent and still.

“What’s wrong?” Kate asked.

“We…I…did not hold back.” He put a finger under her chin and made her look up at him. “I did not withdraw from you, nor did I cover myself.”

"I know..." Kate said, blinking several times as she processed what he meant.

Oh, boy.

She wasn't on anything, nor had she been since trying to regulate her periods a few years ago. While she'd had boyfriends, she'd never let them get that close to her. One of those losers called her "Gotta Wait Kate" because of her abstinence. In her heart, head, and now her body, Thorin was her first. It was only at that moment as she lay next to him that she realized she had been waiting for him the whole time. 

“What if I have given you a child?” he asked. 

Kate curled in closer. Foolishly, unlike the grown woman she was, she hadn't thought of anything beyond loving him. She'd never really entertained the idea of motherhood. She wasn't against it, but she couldn't imagine actually being one. And was it even possible, for a woman from this world and a fictional-turned-real Dwarf from Tolkien's world to create a child? The "what ifs" were enough to drive her mad. 

"How would you feel about that?" she asked, still not sure how to answer his question.

He smiled down on her. “It would be the most loved child on this earth, with the best mother on earth."

He kissed the top of her head and caressed her hair. Kate felt a warm glow from his compliment, but quickly remembered that he wouldn't be there to help raise a child, no matter how loved it was. 

She changed the subject.

“At least some good came from the visit," she said. "The sword is now in your possession again. Would you like to see it?”

Thorin sat up suddenly and pushed Kate’s shoulders back, pressing her into the bed, and rolled on top of her.

“I only want to see you.”

He took her again, more passionately than before, if that was even possible. 

********************************

Eventually, not even fervent lovemaking is enough to ignore a hungry belly. 

Kate was the first to jump in the shower, soon joined by Thorin, who helped clean her in his own special way. She never wanted to leave the warmth and wetness of that shower. But...she also had a taste for lobster, so she forced herself away from his delicious body and got out. They dried off in the bedroom and tried not to look at the messy, inviting bed.

“Wear that flowery frock,” he said as he finished putting on his jeans and shirt.

Kate laughed, looking through her closet for an alternative to the towel wrapped around her body. “Sorry, it needs a wash.”

She waited for him to say something else, but instead, he groaned in pain.

Kate turned around to find Thorin kneeling on the floor. She rushed over to him and put an arm around his back. 

“Are you hurt?” she cried.

Thorin shook his head violently, and strained his neck up to look at her.

It was happening. 

“NO!” Kate put both arms around him in desperation. 

Thorin couldn’t speak. He took her hands in his and squeezed them so hard it felt as if her bones were breaking. He groaned and grunted again, crouching closer to the floor.

“Thorin, the sword!” Kate pulled away from his tight grip and ran to the entryway. She lifted the heavy weapon as if it was light as a feather, rushed it to Thorin’s side, and tucked it underneath him. 

Thorin placed his left hand over the sword, struggling to speak. But he could not.

Kate covered him with her body. Maybe if he could take a sword, he could take her, too…

Thorin reached up with his right hand and pulled on her shoulder with what little strength he had. She slid down in front of him.

“Take me with you, Thorin,” she begged. "Please don't leave me." 

He writhed from another shot of pain. Kate put her arms around his neck and touched her forehead to his. His eyes were open, telling her the words his mouth could not. 

And she understood.

“I know you do,” Kate whispered. “I know.”

Kate closed her eyes, unable to bear watching him slip away. Little by little, the feel of him in her arms dissipated. When she opened her eyes, she was alone.


	13. Don't Look Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anything is possible.

Sometime during the night, Kate was back in the bed, the towel still wrapped around her.

She awoke to the gentle tug of long, slender fingers going through her hair, and an alto humming the old Irish tune her father used to sing.

Ava. 

“How did you know where I lived?” Kate asked.

Ava sat stopped humming but kept combing her hair. “I learned all of that when I first arrived."

“And how did you get in here?” 

Ava sighed. “I’ve picked locks before.”

Kate stared blankly at the wall for a long time before she spoke again. 

“He’s gone,” she said.

“I know. They’re both gone.”

Kate turned her limp, achy body around and lay on her other side, facing Ava, questions on her face. 

“After you left my place," Ava said, twirling one of Kate's curls between her thumb and forefinger, "I paid Thranduil a visit at the university. As soon as I walked in, he saw something in my eyes, something he said he also recognized in Thorin: you, Kathleen." 

Kate didn't even try to stop the tears from rolling over the bridge of her nose. 

"He was ready to take me -- in more ways than one -- but I told him good bye. He didn't like it, but the pull came before he could argue with me." 

The pull. That's what that wrenching pain was so-appropriately called.

“So I guess if you're here, you're not going after that sword after all," Kate said. 

Ava smiled, her soft eyes brimming with empathy. “I’m exactly where I should be.”

Kate sat up, a light bulb going off in her head. "Then tell me how I can go to him." 

Ava looked as if she'd been slapped. "Absolutely not."

"Ava, please!" 

"I can't say goodbye to you again, Kathleen. I just found you again. Please don't ask me. Just let me be your mother. Please." 

Kate could see that her idea was breaking Ava's heart. There were enough broken hearts. Kate lay back down and reached out for Ava’s hand, falling asleep again, holding on.

************

Though she didn't need the money -- she'd managed to swipe a few precious items from Thranduil during their visit -- Ava got a part-time job at the wine shop above her apartment, impressing the managers with the wine knowledge she'd gleaned in Middle Earth. 

But in her spare time she was always at Kate's place, cooking, washing laundry, cleaning, and keeping her daughter from sitting in her room all day. 

Kate immediately withdrew from her classes. There was no way she could go back there, but she had every intention of starting fresh the following semester at another school. And even in her despair, she could clearly see - finally - what she wanted to do with her life: teach - maybe even Medieval history, which she found out had been abruptly canceled after Professor King disappeared. 

Kate took the opportunity to ask Ava all the questions she hadn’t asked Thorin. She’d been so wrapped up in why and how he’d arrived that she forgot to ask the most important question of all.

“Who is King Under the Mountain? Dáin?” 

They were sitting across from each other at Kate’s small dining table one night, eating a baked chicken dinner Ava had cooked.

Ava rolled her eyes. “Pfft! No! The rightful King is ruling. When he isn’t chasing thieves into other worlds, that is.”

Kate swelled with pride. “I'm so glad," she said, smiling, albeit weakly, for the first time in the six weeks since Thorin left. “Do people know where he disappears to, and why?”

Ava took a sip of Chardonnay before answering. “You have to remember, Kathleen, it’s a different reality than what you know from the books. People there travel all the time -- the ones who are meant to. “

“Does anyone ever stop traveling?”

Ava ran her index finger around the rim of her wine glass, thinking about the question. 

“I did notice that when someone found true peace in their lives, the traveling stopped. But I don’t know why that is.”

Kate wondered to herself if Thorin would ever have peace. He had mentioned all the wrongs that had been done to his people, things that needed to be corrected. What if that burden fell to another Dwarf? Could he stay put in Erebor, take a Queen, start a family, stop traveling? Kate wanted him to find peace, and happiness, above all. He deserved it.

Kate asked Ava if Thorin had someone special, and prepared to hear painful things when Ava looked at her sadly. 

"He does," Ava said. "But she's here with me." 

Kate would have launched into a raging, bawling fit if she hadn't already shed so many tears, and she was tired of crying for the day. She decided to keep getting more information from Ava. It helped her feel close to Thorin, somehow.

“Did it hurt you, physically, to come here, as it did him?”

“No, not at all," Ava said. "It felt like sliding down a gentle waterfall. But my travel was my decision, my wish. Theirs is involuntary. Maybe that makes the difference in the pull.”

A wave of nausea came over Kate as she remembered Thorin in such agony. She pushed her plate away, unable to stomach the sight of the lump of chicken, and grateful that Ava was too busy savoring her wine to notice. As the feeling subsided, she thought of one last question. 

"How did you get back here, Ava?" 

Ava dropped her fork, threw her head back and laughed for several seconds. She shook her head and smiled, as if remembering the funniest joke in the world. 

“I was so stupid, Kathleen," she finally answered, clearly tipsy. "For all those years, I was looking for portals and black holes and whatnot. I went to the wizards, who just looked at me like I was a talking banana. I sought out Yavanna, but -- well, I'll have to tell you about that some other time, honey! LONG story! Yeah, then I went to the Elves. And you know what became of that! But I finally --" she pounded the table for emphasis --- "I FINALLY figured it out: all I needed was my heart's desire, and the right place to be - a very special book shop, right in Dale! Virtually the same way I got there!”

Ava cackled again at the private joke running through her head. 

Then the room fell silent. 

Ava stopped laughing when she saw the look in Kate's eyes. She gasped, realizing what she'd let slip. Ava slapped a hand over mouth and uttered a muffled curse. 

**************

In the end, it wasn’t the long, exhaustive discussions with Ava that convinced Kate she could get to Middle Earth. 

It was a three-minute test in her bathroom -- in which a blue plus sign boldly appeared from a plain white background -- that finally opened Kate's eyes: Anything is possible. 

Two weeks later, Kate and Ava stood outside Worlds of Wonder in the dark, cool late autumn night air. Kate shivered slightly in a denim jacket, wearing her favorite sundress underneath. 

Ava stepped up to the old door and touched it. “This was my second home,” she said dreamily.

“I think this was your first home,” Kate said, standing behind her on the sidewalk. 

Ava turned and looked at Kate apologetically.

“I’m just being honest, Mother. I’m not upset.”

Ava touched Kate’s shoulder. “You called me ‘Mother.’ “

Kate smiled and rubbed her slightly protruding belly. “I guess I should get used to hearing that word," she said.

Ava kissed Kate's cheek and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. 

“You’ll be Amad – ‘Mother’ in Khuzdul," Ava said. "But you’ll be other things, too. You’ll learn so much more there than you would here. It will be different, mind you: no universities, no computers, no television. But my God, Kathleen, how you'll grow and thrive there. And yes, you'll teach as well. You will find your place there. And so much happiness." Ava wiped away a tear sliding down her cheek, then regained her composure and held her head high. "Now, are you ready?"

“I’m ready,” Kate answered. 

Ava turned back to the door, squatted, and started picking the lock using some tools she'd "borrowed" from the Dwarves. Kate was the lookout, but there was nobody else around. Ava quickly broke through, grasped the handle, and opened the door.

They stepped into the musty smelling store and looked around slowly, taking in every corner, every window. Illumination from the outside streetlights poured into the abandoned space, casting a snowy glow on the women. Ava went around touching every wall, telling Kate how this was once the premiere bookstore for children's and adolescent literature. 

But when rumors started flying that it was haunted, business plummeted, and the owner -- a nervous, white-haired, buck-toothed man who was always checking his watch -- disappeared. By then, Ava had unlocked its true secrets, but didn't have the resources to prevent the foreclosure.

"Guess who the owner really was," Ava said, knowing that Kate now had no stopping point when it came to belief. 

"Unfortunately I figured that out," Kate said, not saying any more about it. After all these years, the White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" still creeped her out. “So, is a tornado going to hit this place and carry me away to Middle Earth?”

“Wrong book,” Ava said, running her fingers over Baum's name.

“Will I end up meeting Mr. Tumnus?” Kate laughed so hard, she snorted. She could do this all night long.

“Well, if you stand before the Lewis wall, you will. And if you decide to go, tell him I'm sorry I missed our tea date." She said this with a completely straight face.

Ava remembered something and snapped her fingers. "Don't be alarmed if you're slightly farther along in your pregnancy when you arrive. I've seen it happen with female travelers who -- ahem -- got a little cozy with some fellows in this world before they returned. I think it's a space-time continuum thing." 

Kate rolled her eyes. Of course it is, she thought.

Ava pointed at Tolkien’s name on the south wall. “You need to face that way, and keep your eyes open.”

Kate cocked her head. “Open? Isn’t that cheating?”

“That's the biggest misconception about wishing for your heart's desires," Ava said sternly. "If you’re truly ready for what you’re asking for, you'll keep them open.” 

She lifted Kate’s hand, and kissed it. “Take good care of yourself and my grandchild until I see you again, Kathleen." 

Kate felt a tear rip violently down her heart. “You’re not coming?” she asked, panicked.

“Not this time," Ava said, continuing to hold Kate's hand. "I wreaked too much havoc there, and hurt too many people. But I can let you go, knowing that you're OK, and that I got to be a real mother to you for a time. I want you to do what I could not, Kathleen: Live a happy, peaceful life with the ones you love." 

Kate kissed her mother’s forehead before locking her in a long embrace. "I love you," she said. 

Ava released Kate's hand and blew her a kiss as she walked over to the door. Kate took a deep breath and faced the wall.

“Now remember, keep those eyes open, and think about what you truly want. What’s deepest in your heart….” Ava said.

Thorin. Peace for Thorin. Peace for us. 

“….and don’t look back.”

Kate did as she was instructed. 

"I love you, daughter," Ava said. Kate heard her open the front door, step out, and close it. 

Tears rushed down Kate's cheeks, and her body quaked, but she kept her face forward on the Tolkien wall, her eyes wide. 

Hold it together, she told herself. Keep your chill. 

And chill she did - literally - as the room suddenly grew icy cold. And although her eyes were open, everything turned pitch black.

Huge drops of cold, stinging rain began falling, and splashed across Kate's face, down her dress. The water pooled at her ankles, then rose steadily up, until it was at her waist and everywhere around her. Kate felt herself being lifted, carried off by a flood with ferocious energy. 

The water tossed her like a rag doll. She reached her arms out for something to hold onto. Nothing. 

Was this the "sliding down a gentle waterfall" sensation Ava had experienced? That woman had serious thrill issues. 

But as Kate rode the rising water into nothingness, she began to feel less and less fearful, and even a little warmer.

Time passed in an odd fashion, seeming to go on for hours on one hand, only a few seconds on the other. 

Suddenly, there was a powerful surge underneath her and Kate was thrust forward. 

She stiffened, waiting for a harsh landing. 

But it never came.

As if she’d hit a 'skip' button, Kate was out of the water and lying on her side on the ground, dry as a bone. She felt the warmth of sunlight, and through blurry eyes saw bustling activity all around her. 

"Are you all right?" A pleasant, concerned female voice asked. Kate angled her head up to see a friendly-looking person with short, fuzzy side burns peering down at her. Kate nodded, trying to shake off the disoriented feeling.

Soon more people gathered. Kate rolled over and sat on her knees and looked up, trying to take in her surroundings. The people crowded around her were bearded, braided and bewildered by the woman on the ground. 

But their eyes moved off toward the sound of distant rumbling that drew closer.

"Make way for the King!" voices shouted over the thunder of hoof steps.

Kate pressed her hands to the ground and began to stand. Several onlookers helped her to her feet. Fully upright, she realized two things: she was just outside the mighty gates of Erebor, and her tummy, indeed, protruded a bit more. 

A team of gallant Hucul horses galloped by, their uniformed riders slowing them to a trot as they surrounded the small crowd. Though Kate could now see clearly, the animals moved around her in a blur. She stretched her neck and turned this way and that, looking among and over the beasts' great bodies for the King. 

All at once, she heard the thud of boots on the ground. Heads bowed in reverence. 

"Kate?" 

His unmistakable voice was heavy behind her. Tentative hands touched her shoulders, turning her around. 

Thorin was almost too radiant to behold in a black trousers and royal blue tunic, anchored by a weighty belt. And atop his flowing hair was the raven crown of Erebor. 

Kate's eyes met his, and in an instant they both felt as if they were back in her bedroom, skin to skin, whispering love, making love. She placed a hand on her belly, and Thorin's gaze moved from her face to the new bump through her flowery frock. With careful fingers he touched their child's cocoon in absolute wonder, then gathered Kate tenderly to him in an embrace. 

"How are you here?" he asked incredulously into her ear. "How can this be?"

Kate smiled as she held him in her arms, remembering uttering similar questions when Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain, walked into the classroom that day. It was impossible, outrageous. But it was real. 

And it was meant to be. 


End file.
